Welcome back for another edition of Clix Bait – I’m thrilled that you’ve chosen to take the time to visit, and I encourage you to follow this link to the Facebook page and share your thoughts there. It’s a very open group, and we welcome any Heroclix topics, from builds and strategy to repaints and map making. So whatever part of the game that interests you most, you’re welcome to start a conversation about it!

I want to start this week by congratulating Kalder Ness for winning the event in Sioux Falls this weekend, and landing himself a sweet Master Mold. If you’ve never encountered Kalder, let me just tell you he’s one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet, and is part of the team that gives you the Dial H for Heroclix podcast (link here), which is definitely entertaining and informative. It’s nice to see a guy like Kalder walk away with the prize!

How he did it deserves some attention, as well, because I feel like it’s a sign of the times. He ran a really aggressive unthemed team, and flows with recent events that seem to be signaling a move away from themes. It’s not that theme isn’t helpful, but the rules changes and efficiency of certain pieces make the argument for theme less strong than it was before the pandemic. The team that won in Columbus last week also bypassed theme for just a strong overall design and synergy, and just makes a stronger case that theme may be on the decline.

With the rules change, we went from +10 bonuses on map to a +3…so while we can significantly tilt the odds in our favor, we can’t get that near inevitable win on map rolls, so that’s one strike against the strength of themes. While they opened up generic themes to get access to Probability Control, reducing the maximum number of uses to three cut back on its power there, as well. Given how well Onslaught and Harry Leland work together, why wouldn’t you consider breaking theme for the combo? High Evolutionary is 30 points for a great offensive engine that’s not easy to get off the map despite the short dial, so why not put that in to a defensive-minded team to give it the punch it needs to win rather than survive?

There was always a good argument for putting the best team on the table rather than consider theme, but before there was enough strength to theme to make it an argument rather than an afterthought. But as the game stands now, if you have a friend that suggests you break theme to get something more effective on your team, I’d seriously recommend you don’t go with your gut reaction, and slow down to look if the benefits really outweigh the loss of theme. It may be time to adjust how you think about team building.

Now that we’re done with the powers by color, I can take a deeper look at the mechanics of a build we saw in my contest – how Shifting Focus Wonder Woman works with the Lasso of Truth to get multiple swings off before bringing in Giganta for the smash. We’ll also look at Kalder Ness’ team from Sioux Falls and see if we can figure out what’s going on there. I’m going to talk a bit about gridless maps, and what you need to consider when using them before telling you what I think you might want on your sideline if you’re bringing Jason Wyngarde back to the table. So let’s get to it!

So, a few weeks back I introduced you to a budget team presented by Jesse Cote, and briefly touched on the underlying mechanic that made it work, but I wanted to take an opportunity to really clarify how it works here, and let you know what you need so that if you’re not sure about the entire team, then you and play around with it until you find a mix that you like. What we’re discussing is the Shifting Focus Wonder Woman/Giganta combo, and what’s required to make it truly effective. There are some specifics, and some more general requirements, and then a knowledge of how the traits work to know how to pull it off, and I hope to break it all down here.

First off, let’s look at what you need. Some specific pieces are required, of course, but there are also some general roles that need to be filled that can be done by a variety of characters. Here’s what you’re looking for:

WW80 #037b Giganta

WW80 #041 Wonder Woman

WW80 #s002 Lasso of Truth

At least ONE other Shifting Focus Wonder Woman (but honestly, you’re better served to have both the other two)

Long Range Transporter (either a character that can carry or a good TK plan – probably involving Flash or Mister Oz)

Other Wonder Woman equipment (Bracelets are the top pick, though the Armor is another good choice)

Now when I say this is what you need, keep in mind this is the bare bones, and you’re going to want to flesh the team out around this. In and of itself, there is a lack of heavy punching power, and it could probably use some additional defense as well. Jesse used Molecule Man and some other barrier to help out on the defensive side, and chose his support to add a touch of offense that was made more effective when combined with Wonder Woman’s (#041) defensive reducing abilities.

While we’re on the subject, let’s look at that now:

“I WILL HOLD THEM: UNIQUE MODIFIER – Opposing characters within range modify defense -1 for each action they have.”

So the goal is to have her on the board when you make your attack, and make sure your opponents have as many tokens on them as possible. This is especially important for Giganta, who is a little limited by her 10 attack. I’m sure most of you are aware that Wonder Woman can come in with the Lasso for a free incap, and hits characters adjacent to her original target, and then Giganta can follow up with a retaliation due to the wording of her trait, but what you may not realize is that you can get two swings off with the Lasso before placing Giganta for her attack.

Let’s assume you ended your last turn defensively, and had Wonder Woman #001 on the board, equipped with the Bracelets. The reason you have 001 instead of 062, by the way, is planning for this turn, you want the two lightning bolts to get the most targets. At the start of your turn, you’re going to use the second part of the equipment’s ability to switch to the Lasso:

“EQUIP: Any. UNEQUIP: Drop. EFFECT: This character has [Wonder Woman team ability]. // If this character has the [Wonder Woman team ability] printed on its base, Super Senses it can use gains Protected: Outwit. // FREE: If the equipped character is named Wonder Woman, remove this object from the game and don’t score it. If you do, equip that Wonder Woman with any other Wonder Woman Equipment from outside the game.”

So then you let your transportation do its thing, getting Wonder Woman in position to make her attack. Since the incap is FREE, you don’t have to worry about her being carried – she can still use it after being carried. Now comes the tricky part, as you activate the Shifting Focus trait to change to Wonder Woman #041. When this happens, the equipment that was on Wonder Woman #001 is removed from the game without being scored. When the new Wonder Woman comes into play, she gets to be equipped with any Wonder Woman equipment, meaning you can use the Lasso that was just removed to equip Wonder Woman #041. Now she gets to make a FREE incap, as she hasn’t done it yet, hopefully putting two action tokens on a good number of your opponent’s pieces.

What comes next can be done in whatever order you like, but I’ll start with Wonder Woman, since you’re already working with her. You’re going to now activate the FREE provided by the Wonder Woman equipment to remove the Lasso (this FREE hasn’t been done by this character yet, so it’s a legal move) and replace it with whichever defensive equipment you like (the Bracelets or the Armor). Then you can use an action to activate Giganta’s trait, which looks nicer against characters that have a -2 to their defenses thanks to Wonder Woman.

The next turn, you’re likely to attack with Giganta before switching to a different Wonder Woman, but you definitely want to make that switch. While you get the benefit to your attacks because of her power reducing defenses, if you leave her on the board, then you miss the opportunity for a second incap, and lose a fair degree of board control. The goal here is to prevent your opponent from being able to do as much as they’d like to do because they’re tokened up, giving your team a chance to wear them down with solid, but not heavy, hitters.

Again, this is the bare bones…you’re going to need more than this to win games, but if you build to exploit this control, then you’re in good shape. I prefer running with characters that can carry your team as opposed to relying on TK, as you’re not dependent on lines of fire, and there are some super efficient taxis out there right now. Pick your targets carefully, as a good opponent is going to place such that they’ll have some weapons available that you can’t get tokens on. It’s going to be rare that you can lock down a full team, but you CAN get enough to make it tough for them to make a solid counter-strike.

As I mentioned above, theme may be taking a back seat to efficiency. So what do the new teams look like? Well, Kalder gave us one look that I think is worth digging into that he piloted to a win in Sioux Falls, landing him a Master Mold. Let’s break it down and figure out what’s so good about it!

Link: Kalder Ness – Unthemed Goodness

I did not see the team played, but I can easily envision a very specific series of events. Sky Tyrant gets equipped with the Power Gem, gets TKed far enough the next turn to KO a piece or two and damage some more pieces before moving back and getting TKed back. Then Jason makes some bystanders that get TKed out to keep pressure on the opponent, while the rest of the team just fights off whatever gets close enough to threaten it. Mister Oz further complicates an opponent’s attempts to get something in close with TK, and gives a prob that can be safely hidden, while Guy has a potentially brutal quake paired with the Chainsaw’s damage potential. Marvella just adds barrier to the defense, and Lord Gaea can be brought in to help, especially against those pesky Batman prime teams. One Flash does the TK thing, while the other does spot removal for pieces that have been left vulnerable, and gives the team the Leadership it wants. And the Emotional Modifier is almost like a super-Perplex for 10 points, so it’s never a bad choice.

I could reiterate that it’s not theme, but theme isn’t the big advantage it once was, so it’s hard to say that it’s really a draw-back. Jason’s expensive when compared to the rest of the team, but still very much worth the points invested, and while most dials on the team are a little on the short side, I think it’s assumed some points will be given up, but it should score more than it loses. I like the aggressiveness of Guy Gardner, but the way I envision this team being played (which could easily be wrong), I think I would like Proteus to add a free Barrier paired with High Evolutionary for penetrating ranged offense when the opponent is forced to come to you, but that’s more of a playstyle choice than an actual issue with the team.

It’s good, and something that can put a hurt on an opponent in a hurry. Expect to see more of this disregard for theme, as more highly efficient pieces become available and the new rules change the landscape of Clix. Again, congratulations, Kalder…you earned it!

With any custom creation, there is a compromise between creativity and playability – I can make something look awesome, but do those changes make it difficult or impossible to put on the table for even a casual game? There’s no creation where this is more true than 3D maps, as terrain pieces that are meant to be hindering terrain in game purposes can’t really be occupied since you can’t sit your mini on top of that tree. Or maybe you’ve made this fantastic looking lake, but it just doesn’t fit in the grid on the map. Well, some players opt to go with gridless maps to counter these issues, but as I’m about to explain, that brings issues of its own. That’s not saying that it’s bad to play on a gridless map, just that you should be aware of the inherent problems this approach brings.

Most people who try this just translate rang and movement to inches, making for a simple solution to the problem. Unfortunately, when you break things down, this really hurts players that like to use close combat characters, and makes your game less fair than you might have intended. You see, squares are actually 1.5 inches, which cuts characters’ movements down by a third. Since you’re limiting range in the same manner, you might not think it’s a problem, but the longer it takes a close combat character to get into the fight, the more time a ranged character has to maneuver and slowly chip away at the brawler. Worse yet, diagonals would stretch that movement out even further on a grid map, meaning the loss of movement is often more that just that half-inch per square.

A character base is actually smaller than 1.5 inches, as well, so your game group will need to come up with a clear definition of base contact in order to keep close combat clear. A minuscule difference in base size and square size may seem inconsequential, but over the course of several moves, that difference compounds and makes for another hurdle for the close combat piece to overcome. It also makes problems for powers like Energy Explosion, where players might argue over a small fraction of an inch meaning the difference between a hit and not being in the area of effect.

These issues are things that can be overcome, I just mention them because you want to make sure everyone at the table is on the same page. Have the discussion…are we going to treat a quarter of an inch as adjacency? How will we define the starting areas? Will we multiply speed and range by 1.5 inches to stay consistent? If you can get a consensus from your group on these kinds of questions before the start of the game, you’ll find you’ll have a much more fun experience on your amazing-looking map!

The new X-Men set is revitalizing some old favorites from previous X-Men sets, including Jason Wyngarde. His Mind Control is really nice, but a lot of people like playing him to have access to some of the best bystanders in the game, making for some amazing opportunities without putting more potential points on the board. But what characters should you have on your sideline when using Jason? I’m sure you’re going to get some answers that are near universal, and others that will be conditional based on the team design, but if I had to pick five, these would be my top five sideline characters to use with Jason Wyngarde in the current meta.

#5 Captain Marvel (CAAV #054) – Chewie is pretty nice, with Flurry, Plasticity, Giant Reach, Blades, and Perplex. The not-a-cat can make someone’s life miserable in a hurry, but he stays low on my list due to lack of mobility. Part of what makes him great with Captain Marvel is that she can drop him after using he Hypersonic Speed, placing him where he needs to be to cause pain. Unfortunately, Jason is probably not going anywhere, and so I feel like calling out Chewie is more of a defensive measure than a choice made to put more pressure on your opponent. Again, he’s good, but he’s low on the list because you need a plan to get him where he needs to be, and to stay alive long enough to do his thing.

#4 Machinesmith (CAAV #067) – With all the special powers that the Robot Dupe can’t copy, you might question how valuable he can really be, but with a glut of cheap, hyperefficient characters seeing play right now, he’s got some real potential to add to your offense. On his top dial, High Evolutionary has no special powers, and can really hurt people. Let’s also remember that Emperor Gladiator comes in at 100 points, and has no special powers chowing on his dial, so the Dupe can copy him, too. Because of his dependence on what your opponent is playing, he doesn’t make the top of the list, but he’s someone to keep on your short list, just because there are so many good options out there right now.

#3 Dr. Claire Finn (ORV #003) – With all this talk of offense, you might be surprised to see me talking about Yaphit, but there’s a really simple reason he’s great – Sidestep. He’s tiny, so he can be carried around, and good placement will help you give a lot of your team some added mobility. Movement is life in most miniatures based games, and while two squares may not seem like much, you’d be surprised how often it will let you get the angle you’re after, or get just close enough for that ranged strike you want to make. She was almost a step higher up this ladder, but I value flexibility a great deal, as the next two choices will demonstrate.

#2 Lex Luthor (WW80 #054) – So you get options with Lex on your sideline – you can get the close combat option with Bizarro if you need him, or you can go with Green Light for penetrating ranged damage. And both of them are mobile, having Charge and Running Shot respectively. They have a solid 11 attack and damage values that can definitely make an impact on characters, so in my mind, the choice isn’t whether or not to include Luthor on the sideline, but rather which bystander you’re going to bring in.

#1 I.S.A.A.C. (WK MP19-105) – And again, we have options, though Chaos is clearly superior to the other two. Well, maybe…I mean Lord Gaea is going to give you Barrier, and his Close Combat Expert makes him a threat if opponents get too close. While Stellarax may be lacking a bit in attack (he has an attack value of 10), he still has Running Shot and Penetrating/Psychic Blast, making him more aggressive than the other two choices. But Autonomous with TK is a really nice combination, and his damage of 4 pairs with his attack of 11 to make him a decent, if not terribly mobile, offensive threat. And really, who cares which one you think is best…put I.S.A.A.C. on your sideline, and you could use any of the three.

Those are my picks…if you have a dissenting opinion, don’t be afraid to say so! I’d love to hear your thoughts about my picks on the Facebook page, and maybe even know what your own picks would be. There are no wrong answers (except Shard and Franklin Galactus, since they can’t stay on the board without their main characters on the table). Now you just need to make the bystanders you use and let me show them off in Work in Progress!

I’m still working on compiling the powers by colors segments, so once I have them ready, you’ll be able to find them on the resources page. I may go ahead and add the miniature custom sites like Hero Forge to the page as well, just for easy reference. If you have anything you’d like to see added to the page, let me know, and I’ll see what I can do to get it there! Until next week, take care!